I don’t know anything about Matthew or his history, but from what I’ve been reading the past few days, he seems more thoughtful and intelligent than some others. He seems to honestly want to clear the air, or erase some blood from the past. Again, I may be wrong, but it’s just my observation. I believe that everyone is entitled to forgiveness, or a chance to redeem themselves. I don’t know who is responsible for what, but he seems to be trying, and that counts for something.

I’ve been reading/posting here for awhile, and I must have missed the vile exchanges involving Matthew. I don’t share many of Matthew’s ideologies, but I respect him. From everything I’ve read, he attempts to present his views with dignity, but sometimes with some cynicism and a few insults. Who here hasn’t been cynical or insulting at times? There was a period of time where global warming was being discussed and some of his posts irritated me, but he is passionate about his position. Just because he doesn’t think like me and uses big words doesn’t mean I have to hate him. I hope others can let bygones be bygones.

1966

good morning and happy easter everybody
cloudy and 40 degress here.

Doug Z

Faith3
Posted March 30, 2013 at 8:12 AM

Well then Doug if it was just a population issue then we would also be losing wealth. That is not the problem. In fact, we have grown wealth tremendously.

Avg income has gone down $4ooo in the first 4 year of the Obama president. It went down $700 in the next 3 mouths.It went down last mout to , but I am not going to look it up. there is no tremendous growth. Why say what is not true. It is bad.

Stop population growth to the growth in the economy and we might break even.

TZCA

Good morning and Happy Easter everybody.
A dazzling sunny and 68°F here.

Doug Z

Faith3

If we take away money from their educational systems

there is never a time in history that increase in education has increased more than the last 20 years. Do not make me cut and paste it.

Again you write about something that is not true.

Increase manufacturing and natural resources, and give the high school grad a chance. this will create and trickle up effect for all Americans.

AppleStinx

1966 wrote: “expect hillbilly any time now. LOL ”

I know. The city has emitted a siren alert already for denizens to evacuate. Photoshop enhancement has determined that the “Val/Vald” tattooed on his female(?) companion’s armpits is actually “Vlad” – Vlad the Inhaler. It was difficult to read underneath all that hair.

Doug Z

Faith

Grand jury indicts 35 in Georgia school cheating scandal.Atlanta (CNN) — In what has been described as one of the largest cheating scandals to hit the nation’s public education system, 35 Atlanta Public Schools educators and administrator

A state review determined that some cheating had occurred in more than half of the district’s elementary and middle schools. About 180 teachers were initially implicated in the scandal.

Faith3

Um Doug,

Yes, average income is going down but has been stagnant for years. You did make my point though that while most people’s incomes are going down and/or stagnate, that is untrue at the very top where wealth has grown tremendously.

Doug Z

Teacher protecting bad teaching.

The alleged cheating is believed to date back to early 2001, according to the indictment, when standardized testing scores began to turn around in the 50,000-student school district.

For at least a period of four years, between 2005 and 2009, test answers were altered, fabricated and falsely certified, the indictment said.

Faith3

Hard to believe that could happen in a nonunion state isn’t it? I thought teachers unions created these scandals;)

d.d.

Faith3 ,

You paraphrased the ‘old saying if you work hard and play by the rules you will be successful. I believe the saying was first minted by Bill Clinton in 1992 — that if you just “work hard and play by the rules” you should expect that the American system will deliver you a decent life .

According to the NYT’s, it’s out of date.

“The truth is, if you want a decent job that will lead to a decent life today you have to work harder, regularly reinvent yourself, obtain at least some form of postsecondary education, make sure that you’re engaged in lifelong learning and play by the rules. That’s not a bumper sticker, but we terribly mislead people by saying otherwise. ”

The paper goes on to explain when Clinton made the statement , it was just as the internet was emerging. “In other words, we were still living in a closed system, a world of walls, which were just starting to come down. It was a world before Nafta and the full merger of globalization and the information technology revolution , a world in which unions and blue-collar manufacturing were still relatively strong, and where America could still write a lot of the rules that people played by.

That world is gone. It is now a more open system. Technology and globalization are wiping out lower-skilled jobs faster, while steadily raising the skill level required for new jobs.

There is a quote attributed to the futurist Alvin Toffler that captures this new reality: In the future “illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.” Any form of standing still is deadly. ”

– –

According to the latest government data, more than 5,000 people working right now as custodians have Ph.D.s they are not using, and another more than 100,000 people with at least a bachelor’s degree currently work in some sort of custodial position. A whopping 80,000-or-so people with at least a bachelor’s degree also currently work as attendants at amusement parks and other recreational facilities, while nearly 320,000 college graduates currently work as servers at restaurants and cafes.

Why is this? Today’s employers can choose from candidates all over the globe. And what sets one applicant apart from another are skill sets that transcend one’s major or desired profession. Forbes had an article that stressed that employers are looking for applicants with core business competencies. They also wanted them to have tech skills, such as programming, web design, and search engine optimization. In addition, applicants should have training in vital “soft skills,” including critical thinking. The article mentioned ‘The Great Books.’ I took this when I was in H.S. during my summer off as non credit. Who’s willing to go the extra mile now? Cross training is absolutely important in today’s workforce.

Too many students and adults are training for jobs in which labor surpluses exist and demand is low like librarians, teachers , lawyers, sociologists , Ph.D.’s in watered down fields like hotel management. Those students with Master’s of Fine Arts, communication & information technology will have a hard time finding work in their field.

As Cathy says so well, we need to encourage more students to pursue science, foreign languages such as Chinese, Russian, Arabic or other Middle East languages, technology, engineering, and math . Important too are blue collar jobs like machinists, operators, and technicians, as well as engineering technologists .

d.d.

I’ll add : Come to Tennessee

We have no state income tax. This week our paper had a full page ad on CoLinx hiring over 100 full time employees in the coming weeks. In 2012 , 50 people were promoted to managerial rolls.

” The company never had a layoff of hourly workers despite two recessions, The company is investing in automation but remains committed to a pledge that no full time employee will lose their paycheck due to automation. ”

Workers here love working for the company.

Faith3

technology, engineering and math….all jobs that too must compete with skilled workers from around the globe that earn substantially less money.

A big problem with how the current system operates is that while wealth is slowing for growth in trade and long term investment it has skyrocketed in unregulated financial capital. This type of wealth pushes for low growth and low inflation. That off course isn’t going to do much for people that need jobs in whatever field they desire and to make wealth the good old fashion way.

TZCA

d.d.
Posted March 30, 2013 at 8:44 AM
…
Too many students and adults are training for jobs in which labor surpluses exist and demand is low like librarians, teachers , lawyers, sociologists , Ph.D.’s in watered down fields like hotel management. Those students with Master’s of Fine Arts, communication & information technology will have a hard time finding work in their field.

As Cathy says so well, we need to encourage more students to pursue science, foreign languages such as Chinese, Russian, Arabic or other Middle East languages, technology, engineering, and math . Important too are blue collar jobs like machinists, operators, and technicians, as well as engineering technologists .
____________________________

It amazes me that this is still as clear as mud to so many people.

Doug Z

Faith
You are right. I stated that when population growth is big , like the industrial revolution, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. After the 1350 with the black death the people had it greatest raise in income ever.the rich lost .

Ratboy

Good morning! Gonna climb to 55 today so they say, sun is out and it is trying.
I am going to spend the rest of the day curled up in the corner wimpering like a lost puppy since I just got back from my breakfast/tax appointment with my accountant and wrote “the” check.
Thank you President Obama for the opportunity to pay “my fair share”

Faith3

What is clear as mud as that those people have to compete on a global scale too. NOt just people looking for manufacturing jobs.

Doug Z

TZCA

Unions use to train these people. Not now and there is a shortage.

. Important too are blue collar jobs like machinists, operators, and technicians, as well as engineering technologists .

TZCA

Faith3,

Yes, it is true that in some situations, in particular those involving manufacturing sector jobs within global corporations, competition for technical positions exists at a global level.

But, I am a technician with an engineering degree who works with tools. And I can tell you from experience that I have not worked for a company in 15 years that hasn’t been desperate for more people with my background. To work at any of these companies doing what I do, you would need to be a U.S. citizen and most often pass an extensive background check. You would have to be willing to work in some undesirable locations, deal with paramilitary security, and possibly drive alot (often at company expense). These companies just can’t find people….Oh, don’t get me wrong, plenty of people apply, but after a few weeks, the supervisors recognize that these people are, for lack of better choice of words, lying about their backgrounds; they have received their credentials in unscrupulous ways, have spent too much time being told that there is no such thing as winners and losers, and have come into these positions with an attitude that they are entitled to things that the rest of us are not.

Knowing you, you will just say this is anecdotal. I will just respond by saying that enough anecdotes is reflective of a macro-condition.

Doug Z

Faith3
Posted March 30, 2013 at 9:06 AM

What is clear as mud as that those people have to compete on a global scale too. NOt just people looking for manufacturing jobs.

It is time to protect manufacturing . We can not compete until we make what they make , $10 a day. Is that what you what.